The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

David Fincher is one of the best directors alive and it’s not surprising that he’s made an excellent film. The differences between the American and Swedish adaptations are enough to invalidate the argument of a pointless remake, but I’m still unable to convince myself that I should be satisfied with this new version, I’m not, even though the quality is clear. In short, watching a whodunit when you know who the killer is, is as much fun as going to the sea to watch dolphins, even though you know that dolphins don’t live in that sea. You can enjoy the fresh sea breeze, work on a tan, have a cold alcoholic beverage… but you still know that you won’t see any dolphins. (01/13/2012)

A nice mainstream fairy tale. The humor and story work even if haven’t read the book or seen the original trilogy. It wasn’t that long ago that Hollywood found it necessary to update and rewrite Japanese and other horror flicks, but if it's currently fashionable to remake Swedish films, I'm somewhat more sympathetic to that. Lisbeth Salander is a girl that contemporary mass pop culture can't do without, so why not be happy that her series is good? Fincher doesn't always suit my tastes, I don't seek out Craig, and I wouldn't have thought Rooney Mara would be capable of such a personality after the Facebook girl. I'm very fond of Stellan Skarsgård this year and Christopher Plummer is king, but the person who is a downright joy to see on screen is the ethereal being Joely Richardson. I need to see Joely more often, and I'm very much in the mood for a little marathon with the original Lisbeth - and that's exactly the effect the film was supposed to have. (01/11/2012)

David Fincher's directorial style is beautifully easy to recognize, he imparts it to every one of his films. Brilliantly crafted dialogues, musical score, uncompromising atmosphere. This film could have been made in a number different ways. Essentially, it is a considerably clichéd and well-known story about a serial killer, but in the hands of a master, it becomes a unique cinematic delicacy, where ordinary things are presented in a completely extraordinary and distinctive manner. In the end, it is a seemingly well-behaved and coherent film that is brutally eccentric and demonically precisely shot. I wouldn't expect anything less from Fincher. (06/05/2012)

It’s not the Fincher masterpiece that we are used to, but book adaptations are never easy to (this time I didn’t have time to read it beforehand). The middle part with the investigation itself runs very smoothly, but both the introduction and the conclusion, despite being excellent, are a little cumbersome. The atmosphere of the frozen Swedish planes is nicely illustrated, precise direction as always and the hypnotic music of Trent Reznor. The cast is A-grade. Both Craig and Mara are perfect. A well-thought out, tense story. But don’t expect it to be the event of the winter. (01/15/2012)

My slight disappointment stems paradoxically from my ignorance of the book, which is obviously not very suitable for filming. This is because the quantity of names becomes annoying after a while, although otherwise, Fincher does great work as usual in all other components, so we do get a great soundtrack (but this time it's too "off the charts" for the Oscar race:)), excellent cinematography (which underlines the pedantic narrative), and precise actors. But I'll definitely go see it again. The fact that the gardener is the murderer will soon dawn on even the slower folks, but that's beside the point. How we get there is the first priority this time. Fincher is the best director alive right now, period. (01/15/2012)